You may get discouraged with your new business ventures or projects, but don’t forget to focus on the big picture. Remember that many of the most successful people in the world had very small beginnings and had to work hard for many years before they achieved a high level of success. If you are pursuing a project you are truly passionate about, keep going! You don’t have to make it a full-time job or even a part-time job right away. It can be something you work on for a few hours every single week for years until you make it a part-time or full-time job.

Notice all of the businesses, celebrities, individuals, athletes, blogs, websites, and YouTube videos that have gone viral and gained so much popularity. Chances are, they all have a few things in common; learn how they achieved success and take action from their positive advice and examples. Also learn about their humble beginnings. Again, so many of the most popular products, services, and people had a very small start. Here are a few examples:

Coca Cola had a very humble beginning. In the first year, only 9 glasses of Coca Cola were sold a day! Source

“Early in 1999, while still graduate students, founders of GoogleSergey Brin and Larry Page decided that the search engine they had developed was taking up too much of their time from academic pursuits. They went to Excite CEO George Bell and offered to sell it to him for $1 million. He rejected the offer.” (Financing and Initial Public Offering)Source

“Oprah Winfrey turned a life of hardship into inspiration for a multi-billion-dollar empire.” Source

Luckily, all of these people and businesses decided to move forward!

If you’re like me, you’ll be happy as long as you’re close with family and friends.

Be sure to set your own unique goals for your personal life and business.

Earning enough to provide the basics for your family is a great goal in my book, but I also believe that there is nothing wrong with having ambitious goals as long as those achievements don’t take you away from your marriage and children. Regardless, goals are something that are different for everybody. The key is to know your goals; you need to have a target.

If you do have ambitious goals, take the advice of Gary Vaynerchuk – “You have to think about building your brand in terms of a marathon, not a sprint.” That’s right, patience is the key. Give your project a chance if it’s something you’re truly passionate about.

If something clearly isn’t working for you or you don’t even like your line of work, then it may be time to move on to another endeavor if at all possible. A great book to read about quitting is called ‘The Dip‘ by Seth Godin.

Hang in there, and remember that many of the most successful people in the world experienced hardship at some point in their lives.